We have Normality. Anything you still cant deal with is therefore your own problem.

Greetings my darlings, I am back, and life in our household is now officially "back to normal".  Whatever "Normal" is.

Stephen's eyes are fully healed, he has prescription glasses that work, he can drive again, and he's back to working on site several days a week, though he still works from home when there is no need for him to be present in person, but that is more due to general changes in working practises since Covid, and the fact that petrol prices have gone through the roof in recent months.  Finn doesn't much like his daddy being gone all day, he'd got quite used to him being home all the time.

Most of the things that are disruptive in our life now are the same things that are disrupting everyone's lives - the Climate Crisis that has caused unprecedented temperatures for the UK this summer, leading to wildfires destroying crops, wildlife, and homes.  The cost of living crisis that is affecting the entire world, but that is measurably worse in the UK than it is for other developed nations, because we stupidly chose to isolate ourselves from our neighbours with Brexit, so now the cost of buying help from other nations is astronomical. Russia's war on Ukraine, that has impacted the cost of food and fuel, because Ukraine grows most of Europe's wheat, and Russia controls the pipeline that carries most of Europe's gas. Not to mention the feeling of constant tension, reminiscent of the Cold War, because Russia keeps trying to dissuade The West from preventing his attempts to steal Ukraine off the Ukrainian people by threatening us with the Nuclear Option.  I don't know about you, but I feel rather like I haven't had a chance to draw breath since 2016.  There is no "Normal" for any of us right now.

With all of that in mind, I can't honestly work out if my wildly fluctuating moods are simply the natural consequence of the times that we're living through, or if my ever-looming depression is making itself felt again.  All I can tell you, dear readers, is that I'm not coping well.  I hope that you are doing better.  However you are doing, I hope that your hobbies are helping you through this.  For anyone who needs it, here is a big virtual *HUG* from me.

Now, let's get on with the yarny goodness:

FO's

I think I've been fairly productive over the last couple of months.

Monochrome Mitred Squares cushion

I finished the cushion cover that I was in the process of making when I last posted.  I'm really pleased with how it came out! 

Back of Monochrome Mitres Squares Cushion

You may recall that in the stash section of my last post I talked about having miscalculated how much yarn I would need in order to make the back of the cushion be a single large mitred square in a single colour.  I couldn't order more of the original colour that I planned to make the entire back from, so I chose a second colourway - a slightly paler shade of grey - of the same yarn.  Even then, I was worried that I might not have quite enough.  I was right, but I was *so* close!

In the end, I devised a sort of fade pattern, still making just one large mitred square, I started with the darkest shade of grey, and knit to a depth equivalent to 2 rows of the small squares that the front was constructed of, I then alternated colours for a couple of rows with the matching lighter shade, before knitting solidly in that shade until I had the same number of stitches left as I would cast on for one of the small squares.  I then chose an even paler grey mini-skein from my stash, alternated a couple of rows with that, and finished off the very top corner in that very pale grey.  The finished effect is, I think, actually pretty good!  It's not quite what I had intended, but it still looks good, it's unique, and I'm really happy with it.

The pattern is adapted from the Mitred Square Blanket, by LuAnn Krug.  The yarns for the front are a combination of indie dyed mini-skeins, left over sock yarn, and Opal mini's. The majority of the back is made from Cloudborn Fibres Highland Superwash Sock Twist, in colourways "Slate Heather", and "Charcoal Heather".

Grey, purple, and pink striped ankle socks, worn on the feet of a person with very white, fat ankles

It's rare that I don't have a pair of socks on my needles.  I don't right now, but these are the last pair that I made.  I've never really been in the habit of showing off my bare legs, but when temperatures are frequently getting above 30ºC, and have even been above 40ºC, here in ENGLAND! I have had to concede that comfort is more important to me than appearance.  Not enough to wear long socks with shorts though!  So I've started slowly adding to my collection of ankle socks.

I didn't use a pattern for these.  They're knit cuff down, with 1&1 ribbing for about 3cm, then an eye of the partridge heel flap, then stockinette gusset and instep, ending with a basic wedge toe. The yarn is Regia 4-ply, in colourway "01839".

Purple V-neck jumper, drying on a red towel in the sun

I was also working on this when I last posted.  I know it's not the best photo in the world, but I felt the need to demonstrate the great advantage to sunnier weather in the UK, and that is how much easier it is to block knitwear!  

I made one small adaption to the pattern for this jumper, and that was to the sleeves.  The pattern had a very thin ribbed cuff, with the intention I think that it wouldn't be seen when worn, as the quite voluminous upper sleeves would fold over it, creating a belled effect.  I decided that I wanted longer cuffs to match the large ribbed section of the body.  These can then be worn as full length sleeves with very long cuffs, or the cuffs can be pulled back to the elbow, creating three-quarter length sleeves with puffed upper arms.

I think that if I were to make this pattern again for myself, I would consider making some changes to the bust area, as it is entirely inadequate for covering mine!  It's ok as long as I wear something underneath it though.

The pattern is Poet's Pullover, by Ashley Knowlton, and the yarn is Rowan Organic Wool DK, in colourway "840".

Black tour t-shirt with knitted mesh embellishment

Several of my friends, including Kelly, who you may remember if you've been reading this blog for a few years, are in a gothic rock band called The Way of all Flesh.  It's been a long while since they played a live gig, but this summer, they collaborated with Rome Burns, and Byronic Sex & Exile, and put on a tour of several UK cities that they named "The Triumvirate Tour".

Obviously, I made an effort to go to a couple of these gigs.  I missed the one in Sheffield, as the heat had wiped me out and given me a migraine.  I did make it to the one in Nottingham though, not without incident mind, as I managed to put a dent in Stephen's shiny new car while I was about it (Sorry about that again Stephen!) Despite this, I had a fantastic night, all the music was great, and I even managed to dance to a few songs!  (My gods did I regret that the next few days! but it was worth it!)

Equally obviously I had to get a tour t-shirt, but you know how I hate the neckline of standard t-shirts.  So I went through my stash and found a suitably gothic skein, chose a mesh pattern to knit, cut up the t-shirt, and knitted new bits onto it.  The mesh at the neckline is a bit looser than I'd like it to be ideally, but I still think it looks great.

The yarn is by Mothy and the Squid, in the colourway "Dark Star".

WIP's

Actually, this time it's WIP singular.  Unbelievably, I only have one project on the go right now!

Partially knitted purple raglan jumper

It's another purple jumper!

This one is the simplest pattern possible, because I need really simple knits right now.  I'm relying on the beauty of the hand-dyed yarn to make the finished item gorgeous.

The problem with knitting large garments using hand-dyed yarn is that no 2 skeins are identical.  In this case, the yarn is heavily speckled, but once all 3 skeins were wound into balls, and placed next to each other, it was obvious that the amount of speckling on each skein was different.  So I'm following the advice nearly all knitters hate about hand-dyed yarn - I'm alternating skeins on each row as I work to reduce how noticeable the change between skeins is.  As you can see from this photo, this effort hasn't been entirely effective.  You can still clearly see when I've changed from knitting with the least speckled yarn and the medium speckles yarn, to the medium speckles and the most speckled.  In real life it's not as glaringly obvious as it is in this photo, so the jumper should be wearable, but this does go to show how careful you have to be with hand-dyed yarn.  All 3 of these skeins were probably dyed at the same time, in the same pan, yet each of them is unique once the dye has fixed.

I've just switched to the most speckled and the least speckled together, so in a few more rows I should be able to see if that is visible too.  I've saved some of the medium speckles ball for starting the sleeves, so that at least the variations in the body and sleeves match!

The pattern is my own design, which one day I may get around to grading, testing, and releasing.  Maybe.  The yarn is by Mothy and the Squid, in the colourway "Frozen Flowers".

The Wool Monty

I was initially just going to include this with my other stash acquisitions, but when I started writing about it there was just so much information to share that I think it deserves it's own section.

Wool Monty Haul

The first ever The Wool Monty was held in June 2019, and I really enjoyed my day there.  So I immediately ordered tickets for the 2020 event as soon as they went on sale.  Then Covid happened.  In 2021, not only was the Covid situation still uncertain, and many areas of the UK were still under restrictions, but also the arena where Wool Monty is held was being used as a vaccination centre. So I'd been waiting for the event this year for quite some time!

My shopping list for this event consisted of just 2 things - red yarn, ideally enough to make a jumper, and a copy of the new Planar Shift shawl pattern collaboration by Lola of Third Vault Yarns, and Hannah of Corner of Craft.

I had a budget that I knew would allow me to buy both of those things, plus a few other things if I wanted.

I met my friend Rachel there, we used to work together several years ago, but she lives in Nottingham now so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like. We had a brilliant day!

I found my red yarn on the Mothy and the Squid stall, which is unsurprising, as Jillian does stunning reds!  In fact, I couldn't choose just one, so I decided to make a sort of fade from sensible solid through to crazy variegated.

The Planar Shift Shawl was available as just the pattern, or as a kit that included yarn dyed by both lovely ladies, but sadly by the time I reached Hannah's stall my remaining budget didn't stretch to that. I have enough yarn by both Lola and Hannah in my stash already that I'm sure I can find a combination that will work!

My un-planned purchases were:

A supported spindle made by @immakinga which is just beautiful. I've never used a supported spindle before, so I'm looking forward to trying this out properly.  I have, of course, had a quick go on it with some rolags I blended years ago.

A skein of shiny silver tencel by Vegan Yarn, it looks like silver in yarn form, and feels like silk!

Some mini lavender pillows, from Knit me Sane. - A quick aside here, sadly Knit me Sane are closing down, so everything on their site is currently reduced to clear!

3 pretty stitch markers from a pick 'n' mix basket on a stall I can't remember at all! I'm so sorry!

A set of tiny crochet hooks for lace or beads, a hand crocheted bee keyring (not in the photo, as it was a gift) and a pink commemorative pencil, all from Woolfull, who are also the organisers of the show.

Finally, and most strangely, a simple ceramic thimble, that was a gift from a man who was having a little snooze on the comfy couch opposite Rachel and I. He overheard us talking about thimbles (I can't remember how we got onto that subject!) so he brought us one each from his stall, which I *think* was Little Wren Pottery.

I'm also pleased to report that the issues with catering that I, among many others, encountered at the first show, had all been resolved.  There was more choice, more seating, the queue never got unreasonably long, there were extra drinks vendors available, and the organisers had arranged with security that empty water bottles were permitted to be brought in, and water was freely available from any of the drinks vendors.  

Over all, there was just such a lovely relaxed atmosphere!  The size of the space meant that it never became overcrowded, or frantic in anyway.  It never got too hot, which is always a problem for me at any kind of festival. Everyone we spoke to was lovely.  There were quite a few stalls there from indie brands that I'd never heard of before, which I really loved, as sometimes it can feel like you're seeing the same people, and the same products at every festival.  I am so grateful that a festival this inclusive, and this chilled, is held in my home city!

Stash Acquisition

I mentioned right at the top that mentally, I'm not coping well.  Well, as usual, that is reflected in this section...

Knit and Stitch LYS haul

Our knitting group is a little unusual, in that we meet sporadically, in different locations, and most of our contact is actually conducted online.  Specifically in the Ravelry group "Sheffield Knitters".  Recently, we had a new knitter join our Ravelry group.  He had only begun knitting a few weeks earlier, but he's definitely got the bug!  As a new knitter, he was interested in our advice about anything and everything knitting related, but in particular about which tools he should buy to get going.  I arranged to meet up with him at a local yarn store in Doncaster called Knit & Stitch.  I'd never been there before, so I thought it would be good for me to find another yarn store less than an hour's drive from home.

We had a lovely afternoon, discovering that we got on really well.  He's really easy to talk to, and like me, he gets very enthusiastic about his hobbies!

Of course, I couldn't visit a yarn shop without making at least a small contribution to their profits, that would just be rude!  This particular yarn store is quite snug, and stocked almost entirely with commercial yarns.  That's not a bad thing, by any means! I make nearly all of my socks from commercial yarn, and I'm always happy to refill my sock yarn drawers.  

<<WARNING! Socialist rant incoming!>>

The simple fact is, many crafters can't afford luxury materials.  I complain about my financial situation a lot, because I am largely reliant on my partner to provide all of my essentials, and I feel guilty about every penny of my own money that I choose to spend on luxury items.  But I do have the ability to make that choice, because even though I am disabled, and my only income is lower rate PIP (for anyone outside of the UK, PIP is a type of disability benefit), Stephen has a decent job, and we have no children to provide for (apart from Finn, but he's less expensive than human children!)  *deletes lengthy justification of what I spend my money on because it's not really relevant, and I owe nobody that justification anyway.*  In a world where there are people working multiple jobs just to make ends meet, nurses using food banks, where the government of a wealthy nation must provide benefits to "top up" the pay of lower paid workers, because "minimum wage" is not actually sufficient to provide a livelihood, I am NEVER going to be such a yarn snob that I look down on anyone who chooses to knit with acrylic.

Large businesses who could choose to use real wool to make budget yarns, but instead use plastic, meaning that sheep farmers are burning the wool that they must shear off their flocks for the sake of the animals' welfare, yet because they can't afford better, people are wearing clothing that not only is inefficient at keeping them comfortably warm, but also sheds micro-plastics into the water supply every time they are washed... now they are a whole different matter! 

</rant>

Anyway... I came away from that little shopping trip with a new friend, as well as a ball of King Cole Zigzag in the colourway "Trapeze", 2 balls of King Cole merino blend 4-ply in the colourways "Purple", and "Kingfisher", a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply in one of my favourite WYS colourways "Rum Paradise", and a little French Knitting Dolly, because I'd been reminiscing about a French knitting device that my dad made for me years ago, but that I can't find now.

Skein of bright pink yarn

I had hoped to find some bright pink DK or Aran wool yarn during the shopping trip with my new friend in Doncaster, but I didn't find what I wanted.  So I ended up ordering this online.  It's a single skein of Cascade Yarns Cascade 220, in the colourway "Hot Pink", and I need it to make a hat for one of my Godsons.  He saw the hat worn by the singer who performed the Ukrainian Eurovision entry earlier this year, and he loved it!  So Gemma asked if I could make something similar for him.

Ideally the yarn would be slightly fluffy, but I can only find very fluffy, or not really fluffy at all.  Not really fluffy at all is much easier to knit with, and I think will work better with the pattern that I've found anyway.  I imagine you'll see what becomes of this in my next update.

Made by Penguins June and July subscription yarns

My Made by Penguins Yarnologist subscription yarns for June and July are just stunning!  I can't remember which yarn was for which month, but these colourway pairs are called "Parrot", and "Lobster".  Parrot being the solid pink, paired with the green/blue/yellow/orange, and Lobster being the solid peachy orange, paired with the orange/pink. They came with beautiful hand-made crystal stitch markers/progress keepers.

Foundry Works LYS haul 1

My new knitting friend discovered another local yarn store that I had previously known nothing about.  This one is way more dangerous for me!  

It's called The Foundry Works, and it's only a 20 minute drive from where I live.  It is huge, and it stocks budget friendly commercial yarns, luxury yarns, a selection of independent dyers yarns, needles, patterns, kits... plus it's wheelchair friendly, it has loads of space to move around, there's a little kitchen area where you are welcome to make your own cuppa, and a massive central table where you're welcome to sit and craft, and chat, for as long as you want!  It is honestly my personal nirvana!

We met up there with Krissy too, as it's possible to get a tram/tramtrain most of the way there, meaning the Hillsborough crowd can make it there fairly easily.  

I needed more 2.5mm/80cm circular needles, which are my go-to sock knitting needles.  I mostly knit with wooden needles, as they're far kinder to my fragile joints, however, this also means that they're far more likely to get broken.  On a moderately frequent basis, I leave my current WIP on the arm of the sofa while I do something else, then I forget, and lean on it when I sit back down. There follows a faint snapping sound, quickly accompanied by a rather louder swearing sound.  Then I have to locate a spare set of needles in the correct size.  This happened when I was knitting the ankle socks I showed you earlier, except I then discovered that I had no 2.5mm needles left.

So I stocked up on these needles, and bought 3 sets.  A ball of Opal sock yarn in the colourway "Die Diva", a Crazy Zauberball in the colourway "Zimtschnecke", and a skein of Merino Sock by Adventures in Yarncraft, in the colourway "Aubergine".

I justified these by calling them birthday presents to myself.

Foundry Works LYS haul 2

I have no such justification for these.

I did need the 3mm short tips for knitting the sleeve embellishments on my Triumvirate tour T, as I'd tried using standard tips and magic loop, but it was interfering with the mesh pattern, and making a big mess.  Short tips and a 40cm cable solved that issue nicely.

The nearest thing I have to a reason for buying the yarn, other than "it's pretty, I'm miserable, and I wanted it", is that I learned after my first visit to the Foundry Works that the owner, Claire, also dyes yarn under the brand name Claire Nettleship, and sells it in her shop, so I wanted to try out her yarn.  Many of the colourways she does are self-striping, which are amazing, but not my personal preference for hand-dyed yarns.  These greys with coloured speckles though, they are right up my street!  The colourways are called "Feeling Blue", and "Purple Pop".

The pin badge I bought simply because there is a jar of pin badges on the checkout counter, and like a kid with a sweetie jar, I wanted to see what was in it up close!

I also learned on this visit that when a certain member of staff is in the shop, there is a tiny and adorable shop dog!  I did take photos, but I forgot to ask permission to post them online, so I won't share them today.  I will share a couple of photos of the shop itself though, as it's amazing!

Foundry Works LYS Sale Table, Indie Yarn Wall, and more

Foundry Works LYS knit and natter table, and commercial yarn cubbies

At the end of this section in my last update, I commented on the amount of yarn I had bought, versus the amount that I had used so far this year.  Since one of my goals for this year is to use more than I buy, I thought that this might be a good thing to continue to include at the end of the Stash section each time I update.

The yarn in this post adds up to approximately 5600m.  When added to other yarn that I've acquired this year, my total is at about 7900m.

So far this year, according to Ravelry, I have used just under 5700m.

So I need to knit at least 2300m to be back on target to meet my goal.

Finn

Obligatory photos of my gorgeous baby boy:

Finn snoozing on a blanket in the dark, with my gaming notes

Saturday nights are Table Top Role Playing Game nights for us.  Usually either friends come to our house, or we go to theirs, the host provides dinner, the guests provide pudding. Our current game uses the GURPS gaming system, is based in a fictional world, roughly equivalent to mid 13th century real world, but where magic and elves are real.  I play a healer and mage called Linnea.  Recently, one of the other players caught covid, though she felt no worse than if she had a minor cold.  Still, although it's no longer required that we avoid each other, we thought we'd take reasonable precautions, and play outside.  It's been so hot that even playing until 3am outdoors, we didn't get especially cold.  We even got to see the International Space Station fly over a couple of times!

Finn wasn't overly impressed with this change of plan.  He felt that there were too few opportunities for him to beg for food, and there was no sofa for him to climb up on and have snuggles.  Fortunately for him (less so for me) I find sitting in either folding chairs, or our patio chairs, quite uncomfortable, so after a while I gave up on those, and sat on a blanket on the decking instead.  Still quite painful after a while, but at least I can fidget and change position more easily on a blanket, and of course Finn could snuggle up with me.  And spill my drink all over my character sheet, which is why the ink is all smudged!

Finn guards "his" tank

For Stephen's birthday last year, right at the very beginning of Eye-mageddon, I gave him a pair of slippers shaped like Panzer tanks.  Finn quickly decided that these were actually new toys for him.  He will steal them, and bring them to "his" rug in the living room.  We find this about 70% adorable, and about 30% annoying.

Penguins!

It's the middle of summer, you'd think that penguins would be a bit thin on the ground, but apparently not!  Although, I did have a birthday, which explains at least a couple of them.

Stationary and badges and penguin

I write lists.  Lots of lists.  It's the only way that I get anything done except sleeping and knitting.  I like these long, thin notebooks that are specifically designed for writing out lists.  I get through lots of them.

This one came from By Kate Elford, and it's part of her "Blob Family" collection.  They started out with the "Little blob of happiness", a cute blobby character printed on badges, magnets, keyrings and the like, perfect as a sweet little gift for someone who needs a bit of a boost.  Now there are a whole family of little blobs, dollops, sparks, and splodges, all there to bring a smile to someone's face.  My little dollop of organisation list pad has already seen significant use in the month since I bought it!

It's not a penguin though, but I did get myself a little penguin as well when I bought it.  A tiny double magnet with a penguin busy sewing, saying "Just one more stitch...", designed to fasten to your clothes, and hold needles and pins close to hand when you're sewing.  Unfortunately, the magnet isn't quite strong enough to hold a yarn needle securely, so this only gets used when I'm mending clothing, rather than for anything knitting related.

Cup and tea and a jammie dodger penguin

In June this year, the UK and the Commonwealth celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of HRH Queen Elizabeth II.  Technically she reached 70 years on the throne in February, but a long holiday weekend in the UK in February is no use to anyone, so they moved it to June.

To honour this occasion, Kate Elford created several new penguin ornaments representing both The Queen, and Britishness in general.  By a quirk of fate, these ornaments ended up being completely unique, as a fault with the kiln meant that only one of each design survived.  

Stephen it turns out had speedy enough fingers to claim one of my favourites from the collection.  All of them were sold out within minutes of the listings going live!  So this gorgeous little fellow with his cup of tea and a biscuit was my birthday present off Stephen.

Washi tape penguins

I prefer to use washi tape for many of the things you might usually use ordinary sticky tape for.  Mostly because washi tape is made of paper, so more environmentally friendly, but also because washi tape is prettier.  I recently ran out of my previous favourite washi tape, which had a zebra print pattern (Zebras are the patron animal of people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome).  I couldn't find any more of that, so I went looking for washi tape with penguins on instead.  

As the name suggests, washi tape originated in Japan as a type of masking tape, but Japan being Japan, the possibilities of decorating it with cute cartoon characters were quickly realised.  So I was not at all surprised to discover washi tape with these very Japanese style cartoon penguins on!  I may have bought more than one roll...

Cheeky penguin

I mentioned that I got to see Krissy a couple of weeks ago, well she brought me this cheeky chappie! He's impossible to photograph well enough to show his curious little expression, but he truly is adorable!  I love that her kids go searching for penguins for my birthday and Christmas!

Surprise thank you penguins

A little while ago I received a message on Ravelry from a lady called Kirsty.  Kirsty was desperately searching for a specific yarn that had been discontinued, but that she needed just a tiny amount of to finish a pair of jumpers that she was making for the children of a friend of hers.  She had seen that I had a ball of that very yarn listed in my stash, and was hoping that I might be willing to part with it.

Sadly, this turned out to be one of the rare occasions when I had failed to update a project with one of the yarns I had used for it, so when I went searching for the yarn in question, it was no longer in my stash.  However, I know that the projects this happens on are usually those that have a lot of different yarns used in the same project, and I knew that the yarn was DK, so I narrowed it down to a blanket I'm in the process of making from granny squares.  So far, I've made about half of the squares I'm going to need, but I haven't started sewing any of them together yet.  So I went through the bag of granny squares I'd already made, and sure enough, I found 3 that were made from yarn that matched the description of what I was looking for.

I have no shortage of DK to make more granny squares from, and this particular project is mostly intended for those days when I can't decide what I want to do next.  Grab a 4mm hook and a ball of DK and make a granny square to add to the pile.  I also have a couple of "emergency" project bags made up that have a couple of balls of DK and a 4mm hook in them, so if I have to go somewhere with minimal warning - hospital for example - I have a portable project that I can take with me all ready to go.  I could very easily afford to lose these 3 squares.

So I carefully frogged them, washed the yarn, and balled it up, and sent it to Kirsty, expecting nothing more in return than a photo of the completed jumpers.  Although she did ask that I Include my address so that she could send me "a little something" as a thank you.

I was not expecting all of this!  The most gorgeous project bag with penguins in jumpers on it, big enough to hold a 3 skein project, a cute little tin with the same be-jumpered penguins on the lid, containing stitch markers with one of the penguins on each stitch marker, AND a roll of washi tape with the same penguins on it!

Penguins in jumpers washi tape

Honestly, Kirsty, I know you'll read this, and I can't thank you enough!  I love them!!!  The project bag is currently in use holding all of the necessaries for the purple speckly jumper I'm making.

Pocket Penguin

This is possibly the sweetest little out-of-the-blue gift I've ever received.  I went to visit my friend Heather for HER birthday, with no gift other than my presence (and my rather dubious singing voice added to that of everyone else in the room, as we all watched the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode called "Once More With Feeling"). Heather gave me this that day.  A hug that I can carry in my pocket.  A reminder of affection when I feel that affection is something lacking in my life.

I genuinely do carry it around with me.  Sometimes it brings tears to my eyes, being a solid presence that reminds me that I am loved, whether I feel it or not.  Thank you Heather, I can't even explain how much this means to me.

Mini-Printer penguin

Right at the top of this section I spoke about how I love a list.  How I rely on them in fact.  I also love stationary, and I have repeatedly tried, throughout my life, to keep diaries, or journals, of one sort or another.  With the exception of this blog, I have failed to maintain the habit every time, and let's face it, this blog is pretty sporadic too!

What I am much more reliable with, is making lists.

So I've decided to attempt to combine my list-making habit, with a kind of journaling.  Not exactly bullet journaling, which is apparently a thing these days, but my own version where I start the day with a list of things I want to achieve, and end the day with a report on how I did, and reflections on how things went.  I wanted to be able to include photos in this journal, but as it will be hand written, I wasn't sure how.  Then I discovered the existence of mini-printers!  Even better, I found that one of the least expensive available looks like a penguin!  It was clearly meant to be!

That's all for now my dears.  I shall be back again in a month or so.  Take care of yourselves until then.